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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Masaka municipality councillors have opposed a proposal by the Mayor that village councils should contribute for electricity bills of street lights.
Masaka municipality Mayor Godfrey Kayemba Afayo says that village councils and divisions in the municipality should contribute some money towards payment of power bills since they are the primary beneficiaries of the street lights.
He says that Masaka municipality spends at least 21 million shillings each month on power bills for the more than 500 street lights in the town.
Kayemba says that the council is struggling to provide better services due to limited funds.
Robert Kambungu, a member of the works committee, says that they cannot convince the divisions and village councils to fund street lights because they also get little revenue.
He says that the council should instead think of a more sustainable way of keeping the town lit by installing solar lights.
Katwe /Butego Division Chairperson, Denis Lukanga Majwala, says that the Mayor’s proposal was uncalled for.
He says that this will be double payment because divisions already contribute 50% of their revenue to the municipal council.
Muhammad Mustafa Ssempala, the Gayaza village chairperson says that many villages are not receiving any contributions from the divisions as required by the law.
He says that council should devise other means of paying the power bills other than pushing the burden to the village councils.
Masaka Municipality allocated 200 million shillings for paying electricity bills for street lights in 2018/2019 financial year budget.
Masaka municipality got a donation of street lights from the central government under the Electricity Sector Development Project-ESDP.
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